The Compaq Presario 1200series notebooks target the budget-conscious home and small-office buyer, delivering an all-in-one desktop alternative at a decent price. The Presario 1215, featuring AMD's 1-GHz Mobile Athlon 4 processor, is not a stellar performer, but it packs lots of features into its 7.3-pound case.

For starters, the 14-inch active-matrix TFT display, powered by the ATI Rage Mobility 8MB video controller, is a nice addition for a value notebook, and it handled full-screen DVD playback extremely well. Our test unit also included a DVD/ CD-RW combo drive built-in (alas, there are no modular bays for swapping in other components). Compaq says the minimum configuration will be 128MB of RAM, but our early-production test sample came with 96MB. The Presario 1215 comes loaded with Windows Me and a variety of software, including Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money, and Adaptec's Easy CD Creator 4 (for creating your own CDs).

The keyboard, which includes a three-button touch pad pointing device, is spacious. Compaq's Internet Zone consists of three quick-launch buttons for Internet access, e-mail, and a Retail Central channel of your choice. A standout feature of the Presario 1215 is the sound quality. Compaq pairs the SoundMAX integrated digital audio controller with a set of integrated JBL Pro speakers, resulting in one of the best-sounding audio systems available on a notebook. Plus, a SoundMAX control panel lets you add special audio effects to enhance your listening experience.

Performance on our Business Winstone and Content Creation Winstone tests trailed that of most others we tested but not alarmingly so. Battery life was a good 2 hours 59 minutes.

About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of t... See Full Bio

Compaq Presario 1215

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